Azamara Onward, having completed its first world cruise of 155 days, which ended last month, visited Dublin on Monday, where it made an overnight stay before arriving in Cobh, Cork Harbour, this morning, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Azamara Onward has 684 guest capacity, a crew of 408, and is operated by Azamara Cruises, a small-ship cruise line based in the US that operates a fleet of four of the R-class, built to cross oceans, cruise along scenic waterways, and dock at locations larger ships can’t access. Fleetmates of the ‘Onward’, the Azamara Journey, Azamara Quest, and Azamara Pursuit, are each around 30,000 gross tons, have a length of 181 metres and have passenger facilities and cabins across 11 decks.
During the five month world cruise, Azamara Onward, which departed Fort Lauderdale Port, Florida, visited more than 40 countries on six continents with extended destination days. This involved 22 overnight stays and 27 late nights in port. The itinerary gave travellers ample time to fully explore the rich culture and history of each destination.
Among the extensive World Cruise list of destinations, a call took place to Pitcairn Island, the remote island in the southern Pacific Ocean. This was the first time the cruise line brought guests ashore, noting Pitcairn as an elusive destination known for its unpredictable weather conditions.
The island, one of four volcanic isles that form a British Overseas Territory, is home to only about 50 residents, descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers and the Polynesians.
As the Azamara Onward approached Pitcairn, ideal weather allowed the rare opportunity to bring passengers ashore, where guests were able to immerse themselves in the hard-to-reach 47 sq km island. The island has one of the world’s largest marine reserves, in addition to offering some of the best stargazing experiences on the planet due to the exceptionally dark skies.
Cruise-goers on the World cruise had an optional cruise excursion with the Spain & Portugal Sejourn that was completed on 20 June. On this month’s current cruise, on Monday, Azamara Onward spent an overnight stay in Dublin Port and departed yesterday evening when bound for Cobh Cruise Terminal. Today's day visit to the southern port will conclude at 2200 hrs.
Afloat notes that the cruise ship is scheduled to call Belfast Harbour next week, Monday, 8 July, exactly a week after calling the Irish capital.
Azamara Onward has since 2022 been owned and operated by Azamara and was christened the following year at a ceremony held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Prior to entering service with the current operator, the ship was named Pacific Princess and had served with another US operator, Princess Cruises (and P&O Cruise Australia), which acquired the ship following the collapse of Renaissance Cruises. The former Norwegian company has operated the ship as the R Three (one of 8 in the R class) built in 1999 at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.
